CPOs are entitled to full credit for their police experience

Greetings all,
I received this message via another e-mail list I belong to and thought it was worth sharing. It relates to being a CPO and Mass. Civil Service exam score(s)

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I found this civil service case while researching something else.
Basically it recognizes that for civil service "training and experience" purposes,
CPOs are entitled to full credit for their police experience.

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BRIAN STICKNEY and LISA BONNEY
v.
HUMAN RESOURCES DIVISION

Docket Nos. B-99-798 and B-99-819

March 13, 2001

Deirdre O'Brien Soltesz, Presiding Officer

DECISION

Pursuant to the provisions of M.G.L.c.31, §2(b), the Appellants seek
review of the Personnel Administrator's decision to retract and
recalculate credit given for employment and experience as applicants
for the position title of police officer. The appeals, which were
consolidated at the request of the parties, were timely filed. A full
hearing was held on September 14, 2000 at the offices of the Civil
Service Commission. Post-hearing briefs were received from both
parties.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Based on the documents entered into evidence (exs. A - J) and the
testimony of the Appellants and Marc Chavanne from the Human
Resources Division, I make the following findings of fact:

1. The Appellants, Brian Stickney and Lisa Bonney, took the May 8,
1999 open competitive examination for the position of full-time
police officer held by the Respondent.

2. The announcement for the examination, (ex. A), states that
applicants could apply for "credit for employment/experience as a
police officer." (Emphasis added)

3. The announcement further states that applicants would be asked to
delineate this "credit for employment/experience" on the day of the
examination via the "Open Competitive Employment or Experience Credit
Information Sheet for the Examination Title: Police Officer" provided
by the Respondent. (Ex. 3)

4. The sheet indicated that applicants could claim any experience
that they had "...as the result of performing work as a Police
Officer that involved the use of full police powers." (Ex. 4)

5. In July of 1999, the Respondent notified Appellant Stickney that
he had received a score of 97 on the written portion of the
examination, a score of 101.60 for his experience score and that his
combined weighted score was 98.

6. In a subsequent notification from the Respondent, he was notified
that his score had been "recalculated." The Respondent explained that
he had erroneously been granted credit for his experience as
a "campus police officer" and that his score had been recalculated to
97.59 with a weighted score of 97.

7. The Respondent failed to credit Appellant Stickney for his
completion of the Massachusetts Criminal Justice Training Council
Basic Training Course for police officers, which was held at the
Waltham Police Academy. This program was attended by the Appellant on
a full-time basis and took four months to successfully complete.

8. Similarly, in July of 1999, the Respondent notified Appellant
Bonney that she had received a written score of 92, an experience
score of 96.20 and a combined weighted score of 93.

9. In October of 1999, the Respondent notified Appellant Bonney that
her score had also been "recalculated." The Respondent retracted the
credit that they had previously given her for her experience as
a "campus police officer." Her recalculated score was 92.

10. Both Appellants were employed as full-time police officers and
Special State Police Officers for the University of Massachusetts at
Lowell Police Department.

11. In this capacity, they both exercised full police powers.

12. Full police powers is defined as: A police officer who has (1)
the statutory authority to suppress and prevent all disturbances and
disorders; (2) the authority to make arrests and imprison with or
without a warrant; (3) full arresting authority; and (4) the power to
fingerprint and photograph a person arrested. (Ex. 4)

13. Both of the Appellants have exercised all of the statutory
examples contained in the definition of police powers and have
exercised this authority in their employment as full-time campus
police officers for the University of Massachusetts at Lowell (both
on and off campus) as well as in their status as Special State Police
Officer and Deputy Sheriffs for Middlesex County.

14. These full police powers include the investigation of criminal
offenses, the execution of arrests (both on and off campus) for an
array of crimes, as well as the execution of search warrants.

15. In their capacity as campus police officers, Special State Police
officers and Deputy Sheriffs for Middlesex County, the Appellants had
the statutory authority equal to any Municipal police officer or MBTA
police officer.

CONCLUSION

The Respondent challenges the Commission's jurisdiction to hear this
appeal. However, Chapter 31, section 22 clearly states that
applicants shall be given credit for employment or experience in the
position for which the examination is held. It explains that
subsequent to the filing of a training and experience sheet, the
Personnel Administrator shall determine the credit to be received for
such training and experience. Chapter 31, section 24 explicitly
provides for appeals of such issues to the Commission by its
unambiguous language that the Commission has the authority to allow
credit for training and experience if the required prerequisites have
been satisfied.

The Respondent further contends that an applicant can only be given
credit for employment/experience in the position for which the
examination is held, i.e. "Municipal/Transit Police Officer." The
Respondent justifies its "recalculation" of the Appellants'
examination score and denial of credit for employment/experience as
campus police officers by arguing that the Appellants' position as
campus police officer were not credited because it was a title other
than Municipal Police Officer or Transit Police Officer.

This argument is without merit. Marc Chavanne from the Human
Resources Division testified, in response to an inquiry by the
Appellants' attorney, that an applicant who had worked in an out of
state transit authority police force would, however, receive
employment/experience credit if this out of state transit authority
was "comparable to" the Massachusetts Transit Authority. The
Respondent offered no logical justification for retracting the credit
that it initially awarded the Appellants for their
employment/experience as full time campus police officers, Special
State Police Officers and Deputy Sheriffs for Middlesex County. It
merely reiterated that campus police officers were not Municipal
Police Officers or Transit Police Officers. The Appellants possess
full police powers and claim that Municipal Police Officers and
Transit police officers were not cloaked with any more authority than
they were. The announcement for the examination specifically put all
applicants on notice that they would be eligible to receive credit
for employment/experience as police officers.

The Respondent states that an applicant can only be eligible for
employment or experience credit if the applicant provides details of
this employment or experience in the examination title as a result of
service on a Municipal or Transit Police Force. However, common sense
dictates that an applicant does not need to be a Municipal or Transit
Police Officer to reap experience in the examination title of police
officer. State Police Officers, cadet officers and campus police
officers all have full police powers and all have experience as
police officers despite the fact that they are not Municipal or
Transit Police Officers. This contraction [sic] is further
highlighted by the fact that the Respondent grants credit for
employment/experience within positions such as sheriffs and campus
police officers when the applicant is seeking a promotional position
within a Municipal /Transit Police Department.

Because the Appellants are entitled to employment/experience credit
that was initially awarded by the Respondent but subsequently taken
away, the Respondent shall restore this credit to the Appellants.

* * *

By vote of the Civil Service Commission (Lopez, Chairman, Harrington,
O'Neil and Tierney, Commissioners) on March 8, 2001.

Notice to:

John P. Roache, Esq.

Hogan, Roache & Malone

66 Long Wharf

Boston, MA 02110

William M. Appel, Esq.

Assistant General Counsel

Human Resources Division

One Ashburton Place

Boston, MA 02108

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